One employee was injured in a stubborn chemical fire that broke out Thursday morning in a building used to store lithium at Soleras Advanced Coatings in Biddeford.
The fire started in a container holding 60 pounds of lithium in the center of the building on Landry Street, said Biddeford Fire Chief Scott Gagne. The cause has not been determined.
The injured employee had been transporting the chemical and was taken to Southern Maine Health Care, Gagne said. The employee’s condition and identity were not available Thursday evening.
The fire, which was reported at 11:25 a.m., burned for several hours and was finally extinguished around 4 p.m., said Lt. Justin Cooper, who helped fight the fire.
Eight firefighters who entered the building were taken to Southern Maine Health Care to have their gear and equipment decontaminated because of exposure to chemicals. They were not injured.
“Everyone’s OK. It was all precautionary,” Cooper said.
Fighting the fire was complicated because the Biddeford department did not have enough soda ash and other materials to extinguish the chemical fire and had to call in help from neighboring towns, the York County Emergency Management Agency and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The damaged building houses products that contain lithium, which requires dry fire-extinguishing substances because of the risk of explosion.
When lithium is mixed with water, the resulting chemical reaction expels heat and hydrogen, a flammable gas. Even small amounts of lithium, when aflame and mixed with water, can produce an explosion.
Lithium is a common substrate used in batteries, including those for storing electricity generated by solar arrays.
Soleras is an international company that manufactures equipment for the glass coatings industry, according to the company’s website.
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